History
History of the Clayton Amateur Rugby League Club
pre 1951
In 1947 (or was it 1948) the Bradford Amateur Rugby League placed an advert in the Bradford Telegraph and Argus advising that a meeting was to be held at 7-00pm in The Central Hall, Clayton, with a view to forming an Amateur Rugby League Club in Clayton; all interested persons were invited to attend.
I arrived around 7-00pm to find a group of men standing outside the Hall in Tenter Hill and I asked if the meeting was being held.
They replied "no', it appears no one has turned up and no one is interested.
I replied, "well, I've turned up and I am interested so if you give me the name and address of the secretary I will set the ball rolling.
They replied, "we don't fancy your chances' but gave me the name and address of the secretary, who was present.
To the best of my recollection his name was Ernest Eastwood.
I then saw my friends Arthur Hainsworth, Bobby Barker, Bruce Nottage and Eric Holland to see if they were interested in helping form the Club, they agreed to help.
Now, to start a club, one needs, not necessarily in this order:
Finance
A playing ground
Playing Strip
Players
A committee
Clothing coupons.
A coach
My first priority was a playing ground and I approached the Bradford Corporation Parks Department to see if we could have the the use of the Delph Recreation ground, this was refused on the excuse that the playing areas had been allocated to the soccer clubs.
I then went to see Mr Smith Metcalf who had the paddock below and adjacent to the Delph Recreation ground to see if we could have the use the paddock.
He was quite agreeable, but said, the paddock is owned by the Seed brothers who ran the Maltster business and, if they agreed then all was OK.
I went to see Mr Malcolm Seed who was quite enthusiastic about the idea and even offered financial support. Boy oh boy, how lucky can one be, all my Christmases had come at once.
After quite a long and friendly chat, he asked me what we were going to call the club.
I replied "The Clayton Amateur Rugby League Club", suddenly the proverbial hit the fan. But, that is a professional code, I am sorry, but I will have to withdraw my offer because I am associated with Rugby Union (he had played for the Bradford Rugby Club at Scholemoor) and I cannot be associated with the professional code.
I tried, but to no avail, to convince him that we were strictly amateur.
My next approach was to the Bradford Corporation Estate Department to see if we could have the use of the vacant paddock in Green End, opposite the Baptist Graveyard.
This would have meant some considerable preparatory work to remove the underground air raid shelter and restoring the ground.
They sent a representative to see me and, after considering the situation, decided that it was too near adjacent properties and that there would be complaints about balls landing on the properties and possible window breakages and so the application was denied.
Mr George Rhodes, who owned a paddock just below the Broadfolds Allotments heard of our plight and offered us the free use of his paddock with no strings attached.
The paddock was anything but level but I gratefully accepted his offer.
I then decided to raise donations by offering Vice Presidencies on a donation of £10 to Mr Charles Vosper (retired business man), Mr John Hainsworth (local joiner and undertaker), Mt Harry Shepherd (local builder)
Mr Vosper promised his donation, once the club was established, Mr Hainsworth gave the £10 and Mr Harry Shepherd donated six scaffold posts for the goal posts in lieu of the £10.
Subsequently a group of us went to the paddock and erected the goal posts.
Now we had the ground, £10, no playing strip and no team.
I loaned £30 of my own money, and, after "scrounging the necessary clothing coupons, I went to Len Hutton's sports shop in Town Hall Square and purchased the playing strip.
The jerseys were orange and black horizontal stripes and so I named the team "The Clayton Tigers".
The foundation team members were Eric Holland (self appointed captain), Peter Holland, Bobby Barker, Arthur Hainsworth, Bruce Nottage and myself.
Meetings were held at my parents house "The Nook" Broadfolds and my Mother became the team hostess and my Father the first president.
I was, at that time, both secretary and treasurer.
I then wrote to the League Secretary advising him of the progress and lack of players and the result was that they sent prospective players from other areas, mostly the North Bierley Area.
So, there we were, we now had a ground, playing strip, players, a committee, headquarters, and the ball was rolling.
My next move was to arrange for accident insurance for the players and I consulted Mr Cockshott, who lived in The Avenue, an insurance broker with a office in Hall Ings, Bradford.
Mr Cockshott arranged an insurance package at a cost of 2/6d per player.
The first player to receive injury cover was Jack Haigh who lived in Lime Cottage, Clayton Lane, Clayton.
We were playing an away match on a very hard ground and Jack was tackled, hit the ground and broke his jaw.
For home matches the teams changed in the front room of my parent's house and the referee used the bathroom. Of course, boots had to be put on outside the house.
My Mother made coffee and cut oranges which she brought down to the ground at half-time.
Once up and running, the Club created interest and I recruited Jack Haigh, Tony Haigh, Harry Dalby and Frank Sugden (who was a Rugby Union Player for the Otley Club).
I then invited Jack Bolton of Aberdeen Terrace, Clayton, a former professional player with Hudderfield, to be coach, Jack accepted the invitation.
Mr Adamson, the caretaker and personal friend, offered us the use of the Board School students cloak room for the teams to use as a changing room.
I had a display notice cabinet made and affixed outside my parent's property in Park Lane, opposite Victoria Park, and Club notices were regularly displayed.
It was about this time that Mr Jack Wilman, landlord of The Albion Hotel, offered us the use of the pub's front lounge for our meetings and, from then onwards, all club meetings were held there.
The referees continued to use my parent's house as a changing room when the team had home fixtures.
The Club was now forging ahead and we had more players than we needed and so I formed the "B' team which played in an all black strip.
The "B' team became the feeding ground for the 'A' team.
We were now in a position to pick and choose the players for the 'A' team and the first casualties were ? Crowther, Peter Holland and myself.
Eric Holland, the captain, took umbrage over Peter's rejection and resigned while ? Crowther took over the secretary duties.
It was at this time that Ernest Pearson called to see me at The Nook to see if he could play for us.
After talking to him for some time I realised his potential and offered him the captaincy which, after recovering from the shock, he gratefully accepted.
About this time, the Bradford Corporation Education Department, arranged for a physical education instructor to run a class on Friday nights at the Board School for the Club's players.
Some time later the Bradford Corporation Parks Committee contacted me and offered the Club the use of the Recreation ground at the top of Beaconsfield Road, off Pasture Lane, the offer was accepted.
It was at this time that a young man named Jack Smith joined the Club.
Jack was a 100 yds sprint champion and, once on the go, no opposition player could catch him.
Mr William Watson of Reva Syke Road took on the office of Club President and I continued as secretary until emigrating in December 1950.
And so, I left Clayton on the 9th Decmber 1950, leaving behind the Club that I had founded for others to continue the good work, my Father took over from myself.
The fact that Club has prospered so well speaks wonders for the work of those who followed on.
The Club won it's first championship under the captaincy of Ernest Pearson and the team sent me a photograph of the winning team.
This photograph is now in possession of the Bradford City Library Archives together my memoirs of my life in Clayton 1926-1950
by Gordon Wright (original founder of Clayton ARLFC)
Tuesday, 17 October 2000
Clayton get the go ahead for move to Lidget Green
Clayton Rugby League club have been given the go-ahead to play at Lidget Green.
Bradford Council have given them permission to play on the former cricket pitch and they expect to stage their first game there before Christmas.
The ambitious Pennine League First Division club hope the move will enable them to achieve National Conference League status next season.
They have already marked out the ground and plan to renovate the old cricket dressing rooms.
The facilities will be inspected by the Nat-ional Conference League officials before the end of January.
Clayton's move to Lidget Green ends 97 years of cricket at the famous ground.
For Clayton to play there the council had to agree to a change from cricket and athletics to rugby which they did after four months of deliberations and consultations with ward councillors.
A spokesperson for the council said: "After careful consideration we have agreed to lift one of the restrictions in the lease so that Lidget Green Cricket and Athletics Club can play rugby on the ground."
Chairman Tom McCarthy said the news would boost the club's long term ambitions.
"We were approached by Lidget Green Cricket Club to see if there was a chance of us moving there.
"We have been in the Pennine League First Division for a number of years and there was a danger that we that we would lose players to Conference clubs.
"To get into the Conference, though, we have got to have pitch side facilities which we don't have at our current ground at the Delph which is council owned.
"Lidget Green have changing rooms adjoining the pitch and we are in the process of adapting and extending them to make them suitable for two rugby teams.
"I would like to think we could stage a match there before the end of the year, but we would like a fixture with a local flavour."
He added: "The Conference is our goal though. They require you to run two senior sides and a minimum of eight junior teams starting with under-eights so there is going to be a lot of sporting activity at Lidget Green in the future.
"We are looking at creating a training pitch down the side of the ground with floodlights.
"We also hope to attract good support at our new ground."
pre 1951
In 1947 (or was it 1948) the Bradford Amateur Rugby League placed an advert in the Bradford Telegraph and Argus advising that a meeting was to be held at 7-00pm in The Central Hall, Clayton, with a view to forming an Amateur Rugby League Club in Clayton; all interested persons were invited to attend.
I arrived around 7-00pm to find a group of men standing outside the Hall in Tenter Hill and I asked if the meeting was being held.
They replied "no', it appears no one has turned up and no one is interested.
I replied, "well, I've turned up and I am interested so if you give me the name and address of the secretary I will set the ball rolling.
They replied, "we don't fancy your chances' but gave me the name and address of the secretary, who was present.
To the best of my recollection his name was Ernest Eastwood.
I then saw my friends Arthur Hainsworth, Bobby Barker, Bruce Nottage and Eric Holland to see if they were interested in helping form the Club, they agreed to help.
Now, to start a club, one needs, not necessarily in this order:
Finance
A playing ground
Playing Strip
Players
A committee
Clothing coupons.
A coach
My first priority was a playing ground and I approached the Bradford Corporation Parks Department to see if we could have the the use of the Delph Recreation ground, this was refused on the excuse that the playing areas had been allocated to the soccer clubs.
I then went to see Mr Smith Metcalf who had the paddock below and adjacent to the Delph Recreation ground to see if we could have the use the paddock.
He was quite agreeable, but said, the paddock is owned by the Seed brothers who ran the Maltster business and, if they agreed then all was OK.
I went to see Mr Malcolm Seed who was quite enthusiastic about the idea and even offered financial support. Boy oh boy, how lucky can one be, all my Christmases had come at once.
After quite a long and friendly chat, he asked me what we were going to call the club.
I replied "The Clayton Amateur Rugby League Club", suddenly the proverbial hit the fan. But, that is a professional code, I am sorry, but I will have to withdraw my offer because I am associated with Rugby Union (he had played for the Bradford Rugby Club at Scholemoor) and I cannot be associated with the professional code.
I tried, but to no avail, to convince him that we were strictly amateur.
My next approach was to the Bradford Corporation Estate Department to see if we could have the use of the vacant paddock in Green End, opposite the Baptist Graveyard.
This would have meant some considerable preparatory work to remove the underground air raid shelter and restoring the ground.
They sent a representative to see me and, after considering the situation, decided that it was too near adjacent properties and that there would be complaints about balls landing on the properties and possible window breakages and so the application was denied.
Mr George Rhodes, who owned a paddock just below the Broadfolds Allotments heard of our plight and offered us the free use of his paddock with no strings attached.
The paddock was anything but level but I gratefully accepted his offer.
I then decided to raise donations by offering Vice Presidencies on a donation of £10 to Mr Charles Vosper (retired business man), Mr John Hainsworth (local joiner and undertaker), Mt Harry Shepherd (local builder)
Mr Vosper promised his donation, once the club was established, Mr Hainsworth gave the £10 and Mr Harry Shepherd donated six scaffold posts for the goal posts in lieu of the £10.
Subsequently a group of us went to the paddock and erected the goal posts.
Now we had the ground, £10, no playing strip and no team.
I loaned £30 of my own money, and, after "scrounging the necessary clothing coupons, I went to Len Hutton's sports shop in Town Hall Square and purchased the playing strip.
The jerseys were orange and black horizontal stripes and so I named the team "The Clayton Tigers".
The foundation team members were Eric Holland (self appointed captain), Peter Holland, Bobby Barker, Arthur Hainsworth, Bruce Nottage and myself.
Meetings were held at my parents house "The Nook" Broadfolds and my Mother became the team hostess and my Father the first president.
I was, at that time, both secretary and treasurer.
I then wrote to the League Secretary advising him of the progress and lack of players and the result was that they sent prospective players from other areas, mostly the North Bierley Area.
So, there we were, we now had a ground, playing strip, players, a committee, headquarters, and the ball was rolling.
My next move was to arrange for accident insurance for the players and I consulted Mr Cockshott, who lived in The Avenue, an insurance broker with a office in Hall Ings, Bradford.
Mr Cockshott arranged an insurance package at a cost of 2/6d per player.
The first player to receive injury cover was Jack Haigh who lived in Lime Cottage, Clayton Lane, Clayton.
We were playing an away match on a very hard ground and Jack was tackled, hit the ground and broke his jaw.
For home matches the teams changed in the front room of my parent's house and the referee used the bathroom. Of course, boots had to be put on outside the house.
My Mother made coffee and cut oranges which she brought down to the ground at half-time.
Once up and running, the Club created interest and I recruited Jack Haigh, Tony Haigh, Harry Dalby and Frank Sugden (who was a Rugby Union Player for the Otley Club).
I then invited Jack Bolton of Aberdeen Terrace, Clayton, a former professional player with Hudderfield, to be coach, Jack accepted the invitation.
Mr Adamson, the caretaker and personal friend, offered us the use of the Board School students cloak room for the teams to use as a changing room.
I had a display notice cabinet made and affixed outside my parent's property in Park Lane, opposite Victoria Park, and Club notices were regularly displayed.
It was about this time that Mr Jack Wilman, landlord of The Albion Hotel, offered us the use of the pub's front lounge for our meetings and, from then onwards, all club meetings were held there.
The referees continued to use my parent's house as a changing room when the team had home fixtures.
The Club was now forging ahead and we had more players than we needed and so I formed the "B' team which played in an all black strip.
The "B' team became the feeding ground for the 'A' team.
We were now in a position to pick and choose the players for the 'A' team and the first casualties were ? Crowther, Peter Holland and myself.
Eric Holland, the captain, took umbrage over Peter's rejection and resigned while ? Crowther took over the secretary duties.
It was at this time that Ernest Pearson called to see me at The Nook to see if he could play for us.
After talking to him for some time I realised his potential and offered him the captaincy which, after recovering from the shock, he gratefully accepted.
About this time, the Bradford Corporation Education Department, arranged for a physical education instructor to run a class on Friday nights at the Board School for the Club's players.
Some time later the Bradford Corporation Parks Committee contacted me and offered the Club the use of the Recreation ground at the top of Beaconsfield Road, off Pasture Lane, the offer was accepted.
It was at this time that a young man named Jack Smith joined the Club.
Jack was a 100 yds sprint champion and, once on the go, no opposition player could catch him.
Mr William Watson of Reva Syke Road took on the office of Club President and I continued as secretary until emigrating in December 1950.
And so, I left Clayton on the 9th Decmber 1950, leaving behind the Club that I had founded for others to continue the good work, my Father took over from myself.
The fact that Club has prospered so well speaks wonders for the work of those who followed on.
The Club won it's first championship under the captaincy of Ernest Pearson and the team sent me a photograph of the winning team.
This photograph is now in possession of the Bradford City Library Archives together my memoirs of my life in Clayton 1926-1950
by Gordon Wright (original founder of Clayton ARLFC)
Tuesday, 17 October 2000
Clayton get the go ahead for move to Lidget Green
Clayton Rugby League club have been given the go-ahead to play at Lidget Green.
Bradford Council have given them permission to play on the former cricket pitch and they expect to stage their first game there before Christmas.
The ambitious Pennine League First Division club hope the move will enable them to achieve National Conference League status next season.
They have already marked out the ground and plan to renovate the old cricket dressing rooms.
The facilities will be inspected by the Nat-ional Conference League officials before the end of January.
Clayton's move to Lidget Green ends 97 years of cricket at the famous ground.
For Clayton to play there the council had to agree to a change from cricket and athletics to rugby which they did after four months of deliberations and consultations with ward councillors.
A spokesperson for the council said: "After careful consideration we have agreed to lift one of the restrictions in the lease so that Lidget Green Cricket and Athletics Club can play rugby on the ground."
Chairman Tom McCarthy said the news would boost the club's long term ambitions.
"We were approached by Lidget Green Cricket Club to see if there was a chance of us moving there.
"We have been in the Pennine League First Division for a number of years and there was a danger that we that we would lose players to Conference clubs.
"To get into the Conference, though, we have got to have pitch side facilities which we don't have at our current ground at the Delph which is council owned.
"Lidget Green have changing rooms adjoining the pitch and we are in the process of adapting and extending them to make them suitable for two rugby teams.
"I would like to think we could stage a match there before the end of the year, but we would like a fixture with a local flavour."
He added: "The Conference is our goal though. They require you to run two senior sides and a minimum of eight junior teams starting with under-eights so there is going to be a lot of sporting activity at Lidget Green in the future.
"We are looking at creating a training pitch down the side of the ground with floodlights.
"We also hope to attract good support at our new ground."
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